SOME TIME LATER
Aknockatmydoor startled me. Not because I had been particularly engrossed in anything, but because it was almost more like something had been thrown at the door, thudding too gently to have been the rap of a fist.
“Hello?” I called before going to open it.
No one answered, but having no enemies I could think of, I opened the door regardless.
No one was there. Instead, something lay on my stoop, what looked at first like a little bundle of cords. I picked it up. It was dyed green and knotted into a shape like a miniature…
Harness?
“Ravnur!”
“In here!” I turned to call back to Freyr.
In the weeks that followed the start of our courtship, we had built a connecting alcove between our homes, making them one. Freyr had been tending to some of his kingly duties over on his side, while I worked here.
Before shutting the door, I noticed a large leaf still on the stoop where the harness had been, a type I didn’t think was native to Alfheim. When I picked it up, I saw that a small note had been carved into it with what I could only assume was a sharp nail—or a wolf’s claw.
Enjoy! Love, Loki
WhyinallofYggdrasil would Loki send us a harness?
I had the sudden taunting image of Freyr’s cock bound up in the cords and nearly had to adjust myself.
“You are never going to guess what was delivered,” Freyr’s voice came louder as he entered the room.
“How did you—” But before I could finish, I turned to see him.
He carried a beautifully woven basket with bundles of both red and violet cloth that I immediately took for the tunics Freya’s daughters had wanted to gift me, for what was curled atop the fabric was definitely a gift from Freya herself.
It was a freshly weened, bluish-coated forest kitten, no doubt from a litter fathered by Bygul or Trjegul. And just about perfect to be trained on a miniature-sized harness.
“How…?” I started again, but given this was Loki we were talking about, I didn’t bother finishing.
“What is that?” Freyr asked of the cords.
“A gift from Loki.”
“Of course it is.” He laughed and hoisted the basket closer to me. “Well? What shall we call her?”
“It’s a her?”
“So says Freya’s note. Rare to get a female this color!”
The little ball of fur chirped as it sleepily rolled upon the bundle of my tunics, which were going to need a thorough de-furring before I could wear them. She blinked at us, content enough, it seemed, to feel no fear in our presence or her new home. She bared her belly and waited, clearly expecting pets.
Who was I to deny her?
There were many words for what had blossomed between Freyr and I, but one meant both “to love” and “wave” the way love washes over us so thoroughly once we pursue it. “How aboutUnna?” I suggested.
“That’s perfect!” Freyr’s smile was so radiant in response, I nearly had to look away or become blinded by his brilliance.
As the kitten purred in the wake of me rubbing her belly, she also seemed content enough to fall asleep.
Freyr chuckled. “We will have to thank my sister properly sometime soon. And the girls, of course! What a little treasure!”
Unna was, but Freyr was just as much one, at least for me. I believed I was a treasure for him too, and not only because he told me so often. I could see it for myself, the changes in him I had helped cultivate. His clouds of sorrow had not vanished overnight. Some were still there. I was certain I had my own. I was certain all people did for one reason or another. But each day Freyr’s clouds shadowed his glory a little less.
